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Red Lake Police bust into Hobson's 'Cut-Off
house, but end up arresting no one
By Larry Adams
On Tuesday evening, several people
came into the PRESS/ONoffice armed
with documents. These six Red Lake
Tribal Court documents consisted of a
"Complaint for Search Warrant, a
Search Warrant, an Evidence Report
and a Notice of Seizure and Intent to
Forfeit Property."
These documents belong to Jacelyn
Jones Hobson or Jackie Hobson, 47,
originally of Minneapolis. Hobson was
married to the late Daniel Charles
Hobson, who was 49 at the time of his
death.
Since Hobson was widowed by Dan
Hobson, who had a house in Red Lake
halfway between Redby and Ponemah,
which is an area known as the "Cut-
Off," the question remains whose
name the house is in concerning the
Red Lake Nation.
According to Jackie Hobson, who
is not an enrolled Red Lake member,
she said that the Red Lake Tribal
Council is trying everything to get her
out of the house which was in her
former husband's name.
For now, the land assignment for
the house is in her 20 year-old
daughter's name Lalania Jones, who
isan enrolledRed Lake tribal member.
Currently, the house is in Jackie
Hobson's name.
Apparently, the house is financed
by the Red Lake Housing Finance.
Ruby Gurneau was contacted
concerning the status of the house but
she was out of the office. The PRESS/
ON left a message for Gurneau to
return the call Thursday morning.
Within the past month, however,
there have been a violent break-in at
Jackie Hobson's house by Red Lake
Police Department officers, Hobson
said.
According to the "Complaint for
Search Warrant" and the "Search
Warrant," which are dated December
30, 1998, and signed by Red Lake
Tribal Judge Bruce Graves, the search
and seizure took place at 11 a.m.
while Jackie Hobson was not at home
on December 31, 1997, New Year's
Eve.
However, her two Red Lake-
enrolled daughters, Lalania, and
Salina, 17, along with Salina's friend
"Cut-Off/to pg. 3
Hunt tries one more time to work with LLRTC, pg. 8
The hypo, const, of S. Peacock and the TEC, pg. 8
Tribal juris, threatens us all, pg. 8
Our families nightmare, pg. 4
Rescuer of police shooting victim charges police, pg. 3
Voice of the People
1
i-mall: presson@bji.net
White Earth to host sovereignty meeting
By Jeff Armstrong
Decrying secretive law enforcement
negotiations with the state and federal
governments, the White Earth
community council announced that it
will host a reservation general
assembly meeting next week to allow
tribal members a voice in the issue.
Council chairman Marvin
Manypenny said the agenda of the
meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 21 at Circle of Life
School, would likely focus on "law
enforcement and the judicial system
[the RBC is] trying to impose."
Manypenny said community
members are alarmed that a
reservation court was created without
their consent or participation, despite
longstanding concerns over
constitutional authority and the
potential for human rights abuses.
"My fear is certainly that what they've
done is simply adopted the Minnesota
state codes and are going to implement
those," said Manypenny. "My other
fear is they are appointing judges
themselves. Where are the protections
for people as far as civil rights? A lot
of people are really wondering what
(he hell is going on."
Tribal members, Manypenny said,
must reclaim their constitution and
the process of reforming it before it is
interpreted out of existence. "The
people themselves have to interpret
that document. It can't be these
crooked lawyers determining our
politics here."
Instead, Manypenny charged, the
current RBC has continued the
previous regime's attempts to short-
circuit the constitutional amendment
vote necessary to legitimately
implement a judicial system.
"Why are they so afraid of amending
the constitution or calling a
constitutional convention?"
Manypenny asked. "They're trying to
get around it and create something
else without the people participating
in it."
Furthermore, despite federal and
tribal mandates for the U. S. to review
and act on certain decisions being
made by tribal officials, the
government has shirked its
responsibilities. Manypenny said.
"The Justice Department is not, the
Interior Department is not, operating
under the laws they arc supposed to be
enforcing," the activist said. "They're
part of that constitution. And until wc
change it, they should enforce it."
Rather, Manypenny said, "They're
taking the elements of self-
determination and using that against
people that made treaties with the
United States government."
The
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
mews
American
We Support Equal Opportunity For All Pooplo
Volume 10 Issue 13
January 16,1988
-H
1
A woBkly puHcatioiL
Copyriglit Native American Press, 1^8
Top court considers state courtsuits against
Indian tribes
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) The
Supreme Court likely will decide by
July an Oklahoma dispute the Clinton
administration says threatens the economic well-being of the nation's 320
itucidm recogiiized'indian uiocs.
At issue is whether a tribe can be
sued in state courts over deals involving commercial activities outside
tribal lands.
"The question is what is the nature
of (tribal) sovereign immunity," John
Patterson Jr., an Oklahoma City lawyer representing a corporation that
sued the tribe, argued before the court
on Monday.
Oklahoma courts allowed such a
lawsuit against the Kiowa Tribe and
awarded $445,470 against the tribe
for defaulting on contract payments.
That was just one in a series of lawsuits growing out of a 1991 commercial venture.
Legal judgments against the Kiowas
total more than $1.5 million, move
than the tribe's annual budget.
R. Brown Wallace, an Oklahoma
City lawyer representing the tribe,
argued that the state court ruling has
resulted in seizures of the tribe's revenues, a "draining of the tribal treasury which has the result of crippling
the tribal government."
Siding with Wallace, Justice Department lawyer Edward DuMont said
current federal law does not allow
anyone to sue non-consenting tribes,
either for monetary damages or to
force the tribe to take some action.
Any change in that rule of law would
be "the province of Congress,"
DuMont contended.
The Kiowa Tribe in 1990 bought
fiom i\Tr..iuf;iCtuniig Technologic^
Inc. shares in Clinton-Sherman Aviation, an aircraft repair and maintenance business located outside Indian
country at a former Air Force base
near Burns Flat, Okla.
The tribe signed a $285,000 promissory note that pledged to make regular payments for the shares but failed
to make the note payments. Manufacturing Technologies sued in a state
court in Oklahoma City, sparking the
Court/to pg. 5
Leech Lake enrollees listen intently to a fellow enrollee address the issue of corruption on the Leech Lake Reservation at the aborted
meeting to remove council chairman Eli Hunt at the Palace Casino in Cass Lake, MN last week.
Judge rejects special counsel in Hudson
Casino case
Byrd-appointed judge dismissed chiefs
arrest warrant
MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) Some
Cherokee Nation officials say they
are stunned to learn that a judge
appointed by Chief Joe Byrd
dismissed a tribal arrest warrant for
the chief last summer.
Judge J. DeWayne Littlejohn
withdrew the arrest warrant June 27
after arraigning Byrd in a court that
critics contend was illegal, the
Muskogee Daily Phoenix reported
Friday.
"The fact that this happened came as
a shock to me," tribal councilor
Barbara Starr-Scott said Friday. "I
had no idea."
Some tribal officials learned of the
June proceeding for the first time this
week when another tribal councilor
inquired about the arrest warrant, the
newspaper reported.
A tribal court clerk could not find a
copy of it. "I don't think it (Littlejohn's
order) is worth the paper it's written
on," said former tribal prosecutor
Dianne Blalock. "I think Judge
Littlejohn was made a judge because
he was favorable to the chief and he
had represented the deputy chief in a
criminal case for assault."
Byrd appointed Littlejohn in June
after contending the term of Drew
Wilcoxen expired in April. Others say
Wilcoxen's term does not end until
1999.
Byrd's spokeswoman, Lynn Adair,
said the chief was the host of a meeting
for members of the Five Civilized
Tribes on Friday and was unavailable
for comment.
Littlejohn questioned why anyone
would make a fuss now over what he
considercda standard court procedure.
"Basically I did everything they said I
did, but I do that same thing with
every defendant. I don't think I'm
Byrd/to pg. 5
MADISON, WI (AP) A request by
Chippewa Indians for special counsel to look into an Interior Department
official's actions in a casino case was
turned down by a federal judge Friday.
The Red Cliff, Lac Courte Oreilles
and Mole Lake bands want to open a
casino at the financially struggling St.
Croix Meadows dog track in Hudson.
They have filed a lawsuit in federal
court contending the Interior Department was pressured to reject their proposal by other casino-operating tribes
Interior secretary denounces partisan
attacks in casino case
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt says Republican
partisanship is the motivation for congressional probes into a 1995 departmental decision to kill a proposed Indian casino in Hudson, Wis.
In an interview published Saturday
in the Star Tribune, Babbitt said he had
no role in denying the application of
three small Wisconsin Chippewa
bands, but that he has now "mastered
the record" and is launching a public
defense against allegations that campaign cash influenced the decision.
The interior secretary told the newspaper no one at his department dissented from the decision to reject the
proposed casino. "Basically, you had
eight or 10 people, all of whom agreed
that the application was going to be
denied, or did not disagree with the
emerging solution, not a single one of
them," he told the newspaper late
Thursday.
"It was the right decision, made for
the right reasons, and we have nothing to hide. We want the facts out, the
more facts, the faster, the better."
The decision triggered investigations
by the FBI and three congressional
committees, mainly because of memos
from lobbyists for Minnesota and Wisconsin tribes that opposed the casino,
tribes that linked the outcome to their
campaign donations.
State and federal campaign-finance
reports show that the opposing tribes,
their members and their lobbyists gave
more than $400,000 to Democrats in
1995-96, including $286,000 to national Democratic accounts.
After months of congressional hearings into alleged campaign-finance
abuses, the allegations have left Babbitt, a former Arizona governor, as the
administration official most likely to
face a special prosecutor's inquiry-
During the interview, Babbitt said
defending himself against the proliferating inquiries has been "painful and expensive." He told the Star
Tribune there is "no mystery" as to
what is sparking the congressional
investigations: "It's an all-out,
scorch-the-earth attempt to discredit
me and this department and this administration. ... This town has just
degenerated into ... unrestrained,
partisan attacking."
Babbitt said that not only was he
not involved in the Hudson case, but
that he also did not participate in discussions in which senior Interior Department officials shaped a policy
that drove the decision: that off-reservation casinos should not be forced
on unwilling communities.
He-told the newspaper he never
had substantive discussions about
the Hudson case with Tom Collier,
Interior/to pg. 5
who contributed money to the Democratic National Committee.
The Chippewa wanted U.S. District
Judge Barbara Crabb to order a special prosecutor to investigate George
Skibine, former director of the
department's Indian Gaming Management Staff. They allege Skibine
obstructed justice by failing to include
a memo in the administrative record
that they contend shows the proposed
casino would not harm the community.
Crabb told tribal attorneys Friday
that the matter can be resolved
through regular fact-finding in the
case.
The Clinton administration has said
the memo was not part of the agency's
decision to reject the tribes' proposal
to open a casino at a Hudson dog
track, so there was no reason to include it in the official record.
Attorney General Janet Reno has
been conducting a preliminary inquiry
into whether independent counsel
should investigate the Interior
Department's handling of the casino
proposal.
Casino says it might give refund to woman
whose jackpot was voided
MESA, AZ (AP) Herminia Rodriquez
thought she won $330,000 in an
American Indian casino slot machine,
then was told the machine was defective and the prize was void. Now
Harrah's Phoenix Ak-Chin Casino
says it's anxious to soften a "public
relations nightmare." But it isn't going to do that by paying all or even
part of the jackpot. Instead, the casino is trying to deflect negative publicity by saying it's considering giving Rodriquez back the money she
pumped into a broken machine.
Ralph Berry, a spokesman for
Harrah's Entertainment Corp., which
manages the casino for the Ak-Chin
Indian Community, said officials are
exploring giving Rodriquez back the
quarters she put into the machine Oct.
11. "It's a public relations nightmare,"
said Berry, whose company runs 16
casinos throughout the country with
more than 19,000 slot machines. "Basically, we want to see this resolved
as quickly as possible without anymore of this overwhelming publicity." Rodriquez w&s playing
"Quartermania" at the casino, which
is just outside the southeastern Phoenix suburb of Chandler. There was a
glitch in the slot machine's computer
chip, though she was unaware of it,
as were casino technicians, Berry said.
The video shows Rodriquez dropping
a coin in the machine at 6:42 p.m. and
then watching as the screen displayed
three cherries in a row, a jackpot winner. But an inspection after the jackpot revealed a glitch in the machine,
prompting casino officials to scratch
the payoff. Ak-Chin officials said
Rodriquez will have a chance to argue her case in a Jan. 20 hearing before the casino's tribal gaming commission, which oversees casino regulations and patron disputes.
Tribal casino technically illegal, but no
closure expected
WASHINGTON, DC (AP) Congressional auditors took the National
Indian Gaming Commission to task
today for letting a Washington state
tribe operate a casino illegally without the required approval of the Interior Department.
The Nisqually tribe since has requested formal federal authorization
of its operating agreement, or compact, with the state of Washington for
the Red Wing Casino that opened
eight months ago near Yelm, Wash.
The casino apparently is in no danger of being shut down as a result of
its failure to certify the compact. But
Congress' General Accounting Of
fice said in the audit released today
it was concerned that federal controls
had failed to detect the oversight and
worried other casinos could be operating illegally.
"The commission, which oversees
and enforces compliance with (casino) gaming regulations was not
aware that the Nisqually Indian Tribe
was operating (the) gaming without
the required approval of its compact."
the GAO said.
"Although we do not know why the
omission was not detected, we arc
concerned that similar instances of
noncompliance may or could exist
elsewhere and go unnoticed," the au
dit said.
The state compacts are the most rudimentary of the agreements tribes
must secure to operate a casino. In
them, states and tribes agree on everything from the state's share of the
profits to the number of slot machines
and roulette tables in a given gaming
hall.
The tribe negotiated and signed a
compact with the state of Washington on May 25, 1995, and became the
12th tribe in the state to launch Las
Vegas-style gambling on May 1,
1997. But because it failed to submit
Closure/to pg. 5
%

Content and images in this collection may be reproduced and used freely without written permission only for educational purposes. Any other use requires the express written consent of Bemidji State University and the Associated Press. All uses require an

Red Lake Police bust into Hobson's 'Cut-Off
house, but end up arresting no one
By Larry Adams
On Tuesday evening, several people
came into the PRESS/ONoffice armed
with documents. These six Red Lake
Tribal Court documents consisted of a
"Complaint for Search Warrant, a
Search Warrant, an Evidence Report
and a Notice of Seizure and Intent to
Forfeit Property."
These documents belong to Jacelyn
Jones Hobson or Jackie Hobson, 47,
originally of Minneapolis. Hobson was
married to the late Daniel Charles
Hobson, who was 49 at the time of his
death.
Since Hobson was widowed by Dan
Hobson, who had a house in Red Lake
halfway between Redby and Ponemah,
which is an area known as the "Cut-
Off," the question remains whose
name the house is in concerning the
Red Lake Nation.
According to Jackie Hobson, who
is not an enrolled Red Lake member,
she said that the Red Lake Tribal
Council is trying everything to get her
out of the house which was in her
former husband's name.
For now, the land assignment for
the house is in her 20 year-old
daughter's name Lalania Jones, who
isan enrolledRed Lake tribal member.
Currently, the house is in Jackie
Hobson's name.
Apparently, the house is financed
by the Red Lake Housing Finance.
Ruby Gurneau was contacted
concerning the status of the house but
she was out of the office. The PRESS/
ON left a message for Gurneau to
return the call Thursday morning.
Within the past month, however,
there have been a violent break-in at
Jackie Hobson's house by Red Lake
Police Department officers, Hobson
said.
According to the "Complaint for
Search Warrant" and the "Search
Warrant," which are dated December
30, 1998, and signed by Red Lake
Tribal Judge Bruce Graves, the search
and seizure took place at 11 a.m.
while Jackie Hobson was not at home
on December 31, 1997, New Year's
Eve.
However, her two Red Lake-
enrolled daughters, Lalania, and
Salina, 17, along with Salina's friend
"Cut-Off/to pg. 3
Hunt tries one more time to work with LLRTC, pg. 8
The hypo, const, of S. Peacock and the TEC, pg. 8
Tribal juris, threatens us all, pg. 8
Our families nightmare, pg. 4
Rescuer of police shooting victim charges police, pg. 3
Voice of the People
1
i-mall: presson@bji.net
White Earth to host sovereignty meeting
By Jeff Armstrong
Decrying secretive law enforcement
negotiations with the state and federal
governments, the White Earth
community council announced that it
will host a reservation general
assembly meeting next week to allow
tribal members a voice in the issue.
Council chairman Marvin
Manypenny said the agenda of the
meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 21 at Circle of Life
School, would likely focus on "law
enforcement and the judicial system
[the RBC is] trying to impose."
Manypenny said community
members are alarmed that a
reservation court was created without
their consent or participation, despite
longstanding concerns over
constitutional authority and the
potential for human rights abuses.
"My fear is certainly that what they've
done is simply adopted the Minnesota
state codes and are going to implement
those," said Manypenny. "My other
fear is they are appointing judges
themselves. Where are the protections
for people as far as civil rights? A lot
of people are really wondering what
(he hell is going on."
Tribal members, Manypenny said,
must reclaim their constitution and
the process of reforming it before it is
interpreted out of existence. "The
people themselves have to interpret
that document. It can't be these
crooked lawyers determining our
politics here."
Instead, Manypenny charged, the
current RBC has continued the
previous regime's attempts to short-
circuit the constitutional amendment
vote necessary to legitimately
implement a judicial system.
"Why are they so afraid of amending
the constitution or calling a
constitutional convention?"
Manypenny asked. "They're trying to
get around it and create something
else without the people participating
in it."
Furthermore, despite federal and
tribal mandates for the U. S. to review
and act on certain decisions being
made by tribal officials, the
government has shirked its
responsibilities. Manypenny said.
"The Justice Department is not, the
Interior Department is not, operating
under the laws they arc supposed to be
enforcing," the activist said. "They're
part of that constitution. And until wc
change it, they should enforce it."
Rather, Manypenny said, "They're
taking the elements of self-
determination and using that against
people that made treaties with the
United States government."
The
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
mews
American
We Support Equal Opportunity For All Pooplo
Volume 10 Issue 13
January 16,1988
-H
1
A woBkly puHcatioiL
Copyriglit Native American Press, 1^8
Top court considers state courtsuits against
Indian tribes
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) The
Supreme Court likely will decide by
July an Oklahoma dispute the Clinton
administration says threatens the economic well-being of the nation's 320
itucidm recogiiized'indian uiocs.
At issue is whether a tribe can be
sued in state courts over deals involving commercial activities outside
tribal lands.
"The question is what is the nature
of (tribal) sovereign immunity," John
Patterson Jr., an Oklahoma City lawyer representing a corporation that
sued the tribe, argued before the court
on Monday.
Oklahoma courts allowed such a
lawsuit against the Kiowa Tribe and
awarded $445,470 against the tribe
for defaulting on contract payments.
That was just one in a series of lawsuits growing out of a 1991 commercial venture.
Legal judgments against the Kiowas
total more than $1.5 million, move
than the tribe's annual budget.
R. Brown Wallace, an Oklahoma
City lawyer representing the tribe,
argued that the state court ruling has
resulted in seizures of the tribe's revenues, a "draining of the tribal treasury which has the result of crippling
the tribal government."
Siding with Wallace, Justice Department lawyer Edward DuMont said
current federal law does not allow
anyone to sue non-consenting tribes,
either for monetary damages or to
force the tribe to take some action.
Any change in that rule of law would
be "the province of Congress,"
DuMont contended.
The Kiowa Tribe in 1990 bought
fiom i\Tr..iuf;iCtuniig Technologic^
Inc. shares in Clinton-Sherman Aviation, an aircraft repair and maintenance business located outside Indian
country at a former Air Force base
near Burns Flat, Okla.
The tribe signed a $285,000 promissory note that pledged to make regular payments for the shares but failed
to make the note payments. Manufacturing Technologies sued in a state
court in Oklahoma City, sparking the
Court/to pg. 5
Leech Lake enrollees listen intently to a fellow enrollee address the issue of corruption on the Leech Lake Reservation at the aborted
meeting to remove council chairman Eli Hunt at the Palace Casino in Cass Lake, MN last week.
Judge rejects special counsel in Hudson
Casino case
Byrd-appointed judge dismissed chiefs
arrest warrant
MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) Some
Cherokee Nation officials say they
are stunned to learn that a judge
appointed by Chief Joe Byrd
dismissed a tribal arrest warrant for
the chief last summer.
Judge J. DeWayne Littlejohn
withdrew the arrest warrant June 27
after arraigning Byrd in a court that
critics contend was illegal, the
Muskogee Daily Phoenix reported
Friday.
"The fact that this happened came as
a shock to me," tribal councilor
Barbara Starr-Scott said Friday. "I
had no idea."
Some tribal officials learned of the
June proceeding for the first time this
week when another tribal councilor
inquired about the arrest warrant, the
newspaper reported.
A tribal court clerk could not find a
copy of it. "I don't think it (Littlejohn's
order) is worth the paper it's written
on," said former tribal prosecutor
Dianne Blalock. "I think Judge
Littlejohn was made a judge because
he was favorable to the chief and he
had represented the deputy chief in a
criminal case for assault."
Byrd appointed Littlejohn in June
after contending the term of Drew
Wilcoxen expired in April. Others say
Wilcoxen's term does not end until
1999.
Byrd's spokeswoman, Lynn Adair,
said the chief was the host of a meeting
for members of the Five Civilized
Tribes on Friday and was unavailable
for comment.
Littlejohn questioned why anyone
would make a fuss now over what he
considercda standard court procedure.
"Basically I did everything they said I
did, but I do that same thing with
every defendant. I don't think I'm
Byrd/to pg. 5
MADISON, WI (AP) A request by
Chippewa Indians for special counsel to look into an Interior Department
official's actions in a casino case was
turned down by a federal judge Friday.
The Red Cliff, Lac Courte Oreilles
and Mole Lake bands want to open a
casino at the financially struggling St.
Croix Meadows dog track in Hudson.
They have filed a lawsuit in federal
court contending the Interior Department was pressured to reject their proposal by other casino-operating tribes
Interior secretary denounces partisan
attacks in casino case
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt says Republican
partisanship is the motivation for congressional probes into a 1995 departmental decision to kill a proposed Indian casino in Hudson, Wis.
In an interview published Saturday
in the Star Tribune, Babbitt said he had
no role in denying the application of
three small Wisconsin Chippewa
bands, but that he has now "mastered
the record" and is launching a public
defense against allegations that campaign cash influenced the decision.
The interior secretary told the newspaper no one at his department dissented from the decision to reject the
proposed casino. "Basically, you had
eight or 10 people, all of whom agreed
that the application was going to be
denied, or did not disagree with the
emerging solution, not a single one of
them," he told the newspaper late
Thursday.
"It was the right decision, made for
the right reasons, and we have nothing to hide. We want the facts out, the
more facts, the faster, the better."
The decision triggered investigations
by the FBI and three congressional
committees, mainly because of memos
from lobbyists for Minnesota and Wisconsin tribes that opposed the casino,
tribes that linked the outcome to their
campaign donations.
State and federal campaign-finance
reports show that the opposing tribes,
their members and their lobbyists gave
more than $400,000 to Democrats in
1995-96, including $286,000 to national Democratic accounts.
After months of congressional hearings into alleged campaign-finance
abuses, the allegations have left Babbitt, a former Arizona governor, as the
administration official most likely to
face a special prosecutor's inquiry-
During the interview, Babbitt said
defending himself against the proliferating inquiries has been "painful and expensive." He told the Star
Tribune there is "no mystery" as to
what is sparking the congressional
investigations: "It's an all-out,
scorch-the-earth attempt to discredit
me and this department and this administration. ... This town has just
degenerated into ... unrestrained,
partisan attacking."
Babbitt said that not only was he
not involved in the Hudson case, but
that he also did not participate in discussions in which senior Interior Department officials shaped a policy
that drove the decision: that off-reservation casinos should not be forced
on unwilling communities.
He-told the newspaper he never
had substantive discussions about
the Hudson case with Tom Collier,
Interior/to pg. 5
who contributed money to the Democratic National Committee.
The Chippewa wanted U.S. District
Judge Barbara Crabb to order a special prosecutor to investigate George
Skibine, former director of the
department's Indian Gaming Management Staff. They allege Skibine
obstructed justice by failing to include
a memo in the administrative record
that they contend shows the proposed
casino would not harm the community.
Crabb told tribal attorneys Friday
that the matter can be resolved
through regular fact-finding in the
case.
The Clinton administration has said
the memo was not part of the agency's
decision to reject the tribes' proposal
to open a casino at a Hudson dog
track, so there was no reason to include it in the official record.
Attorney General Janet Reno has
been conducting a preliminary inquiry
into whether independent counsel
should investigate the Interior
Department's handling of the casino
proposal.
Casino says it might give refund to woman
whose jackpot was voided
MESA, AZ (AP) Herminia Rodriquez
thought she won $330,000 in an
American Indian casino slot machine,
then was told the machine was defective and the prize was void. Now
Harrah's Phoenix Ak-Chin Casino
says it's anxious to soften a "public
relations nightmare." But it isn't going to do that by paying all or even
part of the jackpot. Instead, the casino is trying to deflect negative publicity by saying it's considering giving Rodriquez back the money she
pumped into a broken machine.
Ralph Berry, a spokesman for
Harrah's Entertainment Corp., which
manages the casino for the Ak-Chin
Indian Community, said officials are
exploring giving Rodriquez back the
quarters she put into the machine Oct.
11. "It's a public relations nightmare,"
said Berry, whose company runs 16
casinos throughout the country with
more than 19,000 slot machines. "Basically, we want to see this resolved
as quickly as possible without anymore of this overwhelming publicity." Rodriquez w&s playing
"Quartermania" at the casino, which
is just outside the southeastern Phoenix suburb of Chandler. There was a
glitch in the slot machine's computer
chip, though she was unaware of it,
as were casino technicians, Berry said.
The video shows Rodriquez dropping
a coin in the machine at 6:42 p.m. and
then watching as the screen displayed
three cherries in a row, a jackpot winner. But an inspection after the jackpot revealed a glitch in the machine,
prompting casino officials to scratch
the payoff. Ak-Chin officials said
Rodriquez will have a chance to argue her case in a Jan. 20 hearing before the casino's tribal gaming commission, which oversees casino regulations and patron disputes.
Tribal casino technically illegal, but no
closure expected
WASHINGTON, DC (AP) Congressional auditors took the National
Indian Gaming Commission to task
today for letting a Washington state
tribe operate a casino illegally without the required approval of the Interior Department.
The Nisqually tribe since has requested formal federal authorization
of its operating agreement, or compact, with the state of Washington for
the Red Wing Casino that opened
eight months ago near Yelm, Wash.
The casino apparently is in no danger of being shut down as a result of
its failure to certify the compact. But
Congress' General Accounting Of
fice said in the audit released today
it was concerned that federal controls
had failed to detect the oversight and
worried other casinos could be operating illegally.
"The commission, which oversees
and enforces compliance with (casino) gaming regulations was not
aware that the Nisqually Indian Tribe
was operating (the) gaming without
the required approval of its compact."
the GAO said.
"Although we do not know why the
omission was not detected, we arc
concerned that similar instances of
noncompliance may or could exist
elsewhere and go unnoticed," the au
dit said.
The state compacts are the most rudimentary of the agreements tribes
must secure to operate a casino. In
them, states and tribes agree on everything from the state's share of the
profits to the number of slot machines
and roulette tables in a given gaming
hall.
The tribe negotiated and signed a
compact with the state of Washington on May 25, 1995, and became the
12th tribe in the state to launch Las
Vegas-style gambling on May 1,
1997. But because it failed to submit
Closure/to pg. 5
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